


Corn Maze

by beckzorz (heckofabecca)



Category: Destroyer (2018)
Genre: Autumn, F/M, Fluff, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Third Person, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 14:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21162812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heckofabecca/pseuds/beckzorz
Summary: Chris finds you in a corn maze.





	Corn Maze

**Author's Note:**

> Written from a Tumblr prompt: "You got lost in a corn maze and I had to come rescue you."

Chris breathes in deep, the fresh autumn air cool and crisp in his lungs. When was the last time he was outside in a field in the middle of a Tuesday?

The fiction: over a year ago, on a vacation.

The reality: ten weeks ago, solving a murder or four.

The murders having been solved, Chris is working a new case, this one on the softer side: embezzlement, bribes, blackmail. The department head, Howe, is the suspect. Howe’s currently sitting on a bench under a tree nearby. Half the team is scattered around; the other half is still working their way through the corn maze.

A woman walking over with a tall stack of boxes hiding her face catches Chris’s attention. He meets Caro, the boss’s assistant, halfway.

“Let me get some of those,” he says. The smell of fresh donuts is a punch in the face, and he swallows.

“Thanks!”

With some of the boxes gone, Chris can see her grateful smile.

“Does this mean I get an extra?” he asks, voice light.

Caro snorts. “I think there’s enough here for an army.”

“Donuts are here!” Howe calls. “Thank you, Caro, Christopher.”

Donuts on the bench, the team happily munching, and then someone pipes up, “We’re missing a few heads.”

Chris glances around. He can hear two men chatting just inside the maze, but you’re nowhere to be seen. “I can go find the rest,” he offers quickly.

“Sounds good,” Howe says. His eyes glint, amused. “But we might have to leave you behind if you take too long.”

“Ha ha,” Chris intones. He grabs a donut for himself and wraps another in a napkin for you, and in seconds he’s enclosed in the maze, his footfalls muffled by fallen husks and the beaten dirt.

The two men pass him early on, close enough to the exit that Chris doesn’t bother giving directions.

“Just gotta find the last one,” he tells them, and then he carries on.

The further he goes into the winding maze, the louder his heartbeat gets.

There’s no one else here. The corn maze is usually closed on Tuesdays; they only had it open for this corporate event. A _ team-building exercise_, Howe called it, but Chris couldn’t see how wandering around in a maze in groups of twos and threes qualified as team-building. Donuts even less so, even if the cinnamon-sugar covered apple cider flavor was out of this world.

The only sounds he can hear now are his own heartbeat, the occasional caw of a bird, and the light rustling of the corn stalks. It’s so unlike the city; just an hour out, and the hush of nature is all he can hear, all he can feel.

He’s hesitant to call your name. It’s on the tip of his tongue, but there’s something in the air that keeps him quiet. A spell, almost. Like he’s walked into something he shouldn’t be seeing, and it’s a privilege to be here at all.

Of course, properly speaking he shouldn’t have volunteered to find you. Howe is the suspect, not you. But Howe’s in a large group right now. He’s not about to start bragging about the sway he has over his senator. Maybe Chris is missing out on some _ team-building _ by the bench, but…

Well, for all this is an assignment, he’s had a hard time not spending the bulk of his time team-building with just you. He hadn’t expected someone like you in this department. You’re a breath of fresh air, even in the city, even in the crowded open office with too much perfume and too many bodies and too many computers.

Out here…

When you’d gotten off the bus, your whole face had lit up. You’d tilted your face to the sun, and you’d positively _ glowed _ in the autumn sun.

Chris takes the last bite of his donut, licks his fingers, and stops short. He turns in place, staring.

He has _ no _ idea where he is.

“Fuck.”

“Christopher?”

Chris nearly jumps out of his skin as he whirls towards your voice. But he’s facing a wall of corn, grown so thickly together that he can’t see you at all.

“Yeah,” he says hoarsely. He clears his throat, stands up a little straighter. “Everyone else is out. I came to get you.”

“Well, you’re at a dead end, or you’re about to be.” There’s laughter in your voice, and the corn rustles in front of him, and then to his left. “Come this way.”

Chris walks, his eyes on the corn wall. His right hand holds your donut; his left trails along the corn stalks. He wishes your hand was close enough to take.

“Here,” you say.

The row of corn stops, and a path goes to the left, towards you. Chris pauses, breathes in deep. He wipes his left hand on his jeans and steps forward.

Right into you.

“Oh!”

You step back quickly, nearly tripping over your own feet, but Chris grabs your hand, steadying you. You suck in a breath, your eyes snapping to his.

“Found ya,” Chris murmurs. He squeezes your hand, makes to let go.

You don’t let him.

“Don’t let go,” you breathe. You step closer, eyes warm and smile soft. “If I get lost, I’d rather get lost with you.”

“Weren’t you lost before?” Chris can’t take his eyes off you, off your smile and your windblown cheeks and your happy eyes.

“No,” you tell him. You lead him along, back the way he’d came. “I was only enjoying the outside. It’s… it’s magical, isn’t it?”

You flash a grin at him over your shoulder, and his heart thumps in his chest.

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah it is.”


End file.
